Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

City may outsource its tax collections
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 3:29 PM
By MIRIAM L. SEGALOFF
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Pickerington City Council indicated this week that it may reverse course and outsource the city's tax collections department as a cost-saving measure.

Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night in favor of a first reading of a proposal calling for the city to join the Regional Council of Governments and use its Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA) to administer the city's income tax ordinances.

Previously, on Nov. 19, council's finance committee voted 4-3 against recommending council make that move.

At that time, council members debated whether the move would save money, and, if so, whether it would be worth the perceived reduction in customer service.

City finance director Linda Fersch and other staff members have recommended the change, which they estimate could save the city between $52,000 and $78,000 a year.

The contract with RITA calls for the organization to keep 3 percent of all tax collections. Fersch said that in the past, cities that use RITA see an increase in the amount of tax revenue they collect.

Rather than lay off the two full-time tax department employees RITA would replace, Fersch, who is also the city's acting human resources director, has recommended those individuals be placed in other city jobs left vacant by a long-term hiring freeze. One of those positions, she said, is in the water and sewer department and is funded through utility revenue. The other is paid for through the city's general fund.

A third, part-time tax department employee is expected to retire this winter and a fourth department employee will remain.

Council member Brian Wisniewski, who has now voted twice against the move, has argued that any savings created by using RITA will be negligible and is not worth the risk.

''I have nothing but respect and admiration for our tax department and what they do for our community,'' Wisniewski said. ''I will practically guarantee if we go with RITA, you will not get even close to the level of service we have now. Is that worth $50,000 to me? Absolutely. I just think it is a bad idea.''

Wisniewski was originally joined in opposing the change by council members Tricia Sanders, Cristie Hammond and Keith Smith. Council members Brian Sauer, Michael Sabatino and Jeff Fix remain in favor of joining RITA.

Sanders, however, changed her vote this week to support the contract.

''It was never that I was anti-RITA,'' she said after Tuesday night's meeting. ''I was just worried if this was the time to do it. After talking to some people in Reynoldsburg, both residents and administrators, I decided this is a good thing. There are services provided through RITA that can enhance revenue and benefit our citizens.''

Sanders said she was originally concerned that with the change, the city staff would be further reduced and that would have a negative impact on services provided to citizens.

''I was assured that was definitely not the case,'' she said. ''Because we've had the hiring freeze in place, we definitely need the staff.''

Flip Flop.....Tick tock

So let?’s talk flip-flops on city council.

Sanders, who we?’ve heard little from this past year motions to send this income tax fiasco to council as NOT RECOMMENDED according to the city website agenda for the council meeting. Then, lo and behold she votes FOR outsourcing valuable city services to Brian Sauer?’s cousin RITA!!

FLIP FLOP

Brian Sauer earlier says he has a conflict of interest because his cousin has a high ranking position with this RITA thing so he cannot participate in discussion or vote on his cousin?’s company RITA. Then, lo and behold when it is time to vote and the lucrative contract to his cousin is at risk of failing with a 3-3 vote, he suddenly doesn?’t have a conflict? Which is it? Real, imagined, perceived or none?

FLIP FLOP

?“City finance director Linda Fersch and other staff members have recommended the change, which they estimate could save the city between $52,000 and $78,000 a year.?”

Wait, in one of the minutes I read some on council stated that this was the first year savings but that they would decrease each year after that. Which is it? Savings per year forever or just one year and then we?’ll see?

FLIP FLOP

I am no math whiz so let me ask this: do the ?“potential savings?” account for the employee?’s salary that is still apparently coming out of the general fund? I mean that?’s what we?’re cutting, right? So if the employee simply moves to another job (which in these troubling economic times I pray he or she does) we are not saving any money off that salary. Let?’s assume that this tax person makes between $52,000 and $78,000 a year with benefits, is the outsourcing option now a wash?

FLIP FLOP

It seems now that the alliance of Fix, Sabatino, Sauer and apparently Sanders is the power to be reckoned with in this city. Oh wait, I read back to a year ago in these postings that Fix engineered the candidacy and campaigns of Sanders and Sauer. So Fix and his three lapdogs are now the power to be reckoned with.

I thought Sabatino was anti-Riggs and anti-Shaver. Fix was very pro-Riggs and pro-Shaver. Does that mean that Sabatino is also pro-people like that?

FLIP FLOP

Elections are 11 months away. Tick tock?…tick tock?…tick tock?…tick tock

Ethics

http://66.194.250.96/picktown/documents/meeting_minutes/doc2546.htm

Mr. Sabatino stated Mrs. Fersch had mentioned we do 100 percent auditing and his question would be who benefited from that. Mr. Hansley stated the difference between the two is that currently by hand checking every return, we catch every mistake, and RITA will not catch every mistake on every return. Ms Eichner stated every day they help people both on the phone and in person at the office, as there is mass confusion between the school tax and city tax.

Mr. Sauer stated he would like to comment that Lori Gishel, the RITA representative, is his cousin and he would, therefore, be abstaining from voting on this issue.

http://66.194.250.96/picktown/documents/meeting_minutes/doc2565.htm

Ms Gischel stated that has been provided to Mrs. Fersch and as far as an estimated cost, the range right now with the one percent tax with the fifty percent credit, your collections being $4.2 million, they estimate the cost to be $129,900 to $143,600.

Wow. How can I land my cousin a $130,000 - $140,000 contract with the city? Do I need to get elected to council or can I just put a Sauer sign up in my yard and get a little back-scratchin' goin' on?

Hey BS - I'll send ya an email - I've got some other ''savings'' for ya - wink, wink.

Great start

I for one am happy that the council got off the dime and started the process of making cuts. Trying to claim that a cousin working for the agency is a ethics violation is a stretch in my mind. This is the first of many difficult decisions ahead for council. I hope the rest don't take this long and the current boat anchors on council come around also.